A typical deck includes surface boards laid upon a foundation of joists. The surface boards are typically manufactured from either softwoods, such as pine and fir, or hardwoods, such as walnut or ipe. Softwoods are typically less expensive and easier to work with, while hardwoods are typically more expensive and difficult to work with, but offer superior finish, strength, and longevity. During manufacture, softwood surface boards may easily be fastened to the joists by directly nailing or screwing through the boards into the joists, since softwoods typically do not split or crack when penetrated by a nail or screw. Hardwood surface boards, however, will often split or crack if nails or screws are directly inserted therein. For this reason, hardwood surface boards are typically predrilled with thru-holes, through which screws are inserted to secure the boards to the joists, thereby avoiding cracking.
One problem with this approach is that several hundred holes must be predrilled for an average deck, which is time consuming and expensive, making hardwood decks too costly for many consumers. It would be desirable to provide a system and apparatus for attaching surface boards to underlying joists, which do not require screwing or nailing directly into the surface boards, or predrilling of the surface boards.